Book Recommendation

Skunk Works — This is a great book about one of the most successful aerospace design teams of the 21st century – Lockheed’s secret Skunk Works. The book is a personal memoir of Ben Rich who was the operations boss for two decades and retells the story of iconic aircraft such as the U2, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Bomber. The book doesn’t only include great engineering wisdom but also case studies on how to foster innovation in large organisations and effectively manage design teams when they are being scrutinised external powers (e.g. such as politicians and military personnel) in times of crisis, i.e. the Cold War. I was most impressed at how the Skunk Works managed to design ground-breaking technology on time and on budget. A feat that nearly no large aerospace company is capable of today!

What else was interesting?

Why is there a hole in airplane windows? — “Equipped with this understanding, the purpose of the breather hole, which is located near the bottom of the middle pane, becomes clear: it serves as a bleed valve, allowing pressure between the air in the passenger cabin and the air between the outer and middle panes to equilibrate. This tiny little hole ensures that cabin pressure during flight is applied only to the outer pane … thus preserving the middle pane for emergency situations.”

Electric propulsion technologies — LEAPTech is a key element of NASA’s plan to help a significant portion of the aircraft industry transition to electrical propulsion within the next decade

Engineer’s Lament — This is not quite aerospace engineering, but hey, let’s give the auto engineers some attention as well. The article is a great piece on how domain specific knowledge forms our perspectives and different points of view. The engineer within me felt frustrated by some of the misunderstandings, but this only made me realise the importance of clear technical communication.

You can spread the word about this newsletter by sending your friends to this landing page.

Thanks for reading,

Rainer

P.S. What do you like or not like about this newsletter? What would you like to read more of? Hit reply to this email and let me know.